CPC Definition - Subclass G05B
This place covers:
Features of control systems or elements for regulating specific variables, which are clearly more generally applicable to any system.
In this subclass, details or specific control systems are classified in the group relevant to that system, if not otherwise provided for.
This place does not cover:
Examples of places where the subject matter of this place is covered when specially adapted, used for a particular purpose, or incorporated in a larger system:
Spreading or positioning of drawn nets for fishing | |
Adjustable operating tables, operating chairs or dental chairs | |
Distillation | |
Filtration | |
Separation of gases or vapours by gas-analysis apparatus | |
Separation using semi-permeable membranes | |
Feed or outlet in chemical or physical processes | |
Oxygen content in oxidation gas for regeneration or reactivation of catalysts | |
Ion-exchange processes | |
Delivery in spraying systems | |
Metal-rolling mills | |
Positioning tool carriers for forging, pressing or hammering | |
Continuous casting of metals | |
Centrifugal casting of metals | |
Pressure or injection die casting of metals | |
Pressure or vacuum casting of metals | |
Casting of metals in general | |
Tool or work positioning for boring or drilling | |
Machines for shearing or similar cutting stock travelling otherwise than in the direction of the cut | |
Driving or feeding mechanisms of machine tools | |
Feed movement, cutting velocity or position of machine tools | |
Copying from a pattern or master model for machine tools | |
Position of grinding tool or work | |
Manipulators | |
Position of cutters in cutting machines | |
Shaping techniques for plastic substances | |
Presses | |
Composing machines | |
Printing machines or presses | |
Feeding sheets or webs in typewriters | |
Apparatus or devices for manifolding, duplicating or printing for commercial purposes | |
Addressing machines | |
Vehicle suspension | |
Vehicle brakes | |
Conjoint control of vehicle sub-units | |
Machines for packaging | |
Conveyors | |
Heat treatment of ferrous or non-ferrous metals or alloys | |
Sequence of drive operations for dredging or soil-shifting | |
Earth drilling operations | |
Steam accumulators | |
Steam engine plants | |
Air intakes for gas-turbine or jet-propulsion plants | |
Gas-turbine plants; Fuel supply in air-breathing jet-propulsion plants | |
Combustion engines | |
Jet pipes or nozzles in jet-propulsion plants | |
Jet-propulsion plants | |
Wind motors | |
Positive-displacement machines | |
Non-positive displacement pumps, pumping installations or systems | |
Clutches | |
Suppression of vibrations using fluid means | |
Gearings | |
Control of gearings | |
Steam boilers | |
Incineration of waste | |
Combustion in combustion apparatus | |
Combustion in open fires using solid fuel | |
Solar heating | |
Drying processes of solid materials or objects | |
Steam or vapour condensers | |
Heat-exchange apparatus with intermediate heat-transfer medium in closed tubes passing into or through conduit walls, in which the medium condenses and evaporates | |
Heat-exchanges or heat-transfer apparatus in general | |
Measurement in general | |
Computers | |
Traffic | |
Indicating devices using static means to present variable information | |
Nuclear reaction | |
Nuclear-power plant | |
Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes used for localised treatment of objects | |
Processes or apparatus adapted for the manufacture or treatment of semiconductor or solid state devices | |
Circuit arrangements for ac mains or ac distribution networks | |
Electric motors, generators or dynamo-electric converters |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Fluid-pressure actuators or systems acting by means of fluids in general | |
Valves per se | |
Measuring not specially adapted for a specific variable; Arrangements for measuring two or more variables not covered in a single other subclass; Tariff metering apparatus | |
Testing static or dynamic balance of machines or structures; Testing of structures or apparatus | |
Investigating or analysing materials by determining their chemical or physical properties | |
Measuring electric variables; Measuring magnetic variables | |
Compound strips or plates, e.g. bimetallic | |
Capacitors, rectifiers, detectors or switches devices | |
Electric switches, relays, selectors or emergency protective devices | |
Dynamo-electric machines |
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
automatic controller | means a system, circuit, or device in which a signal from the detecting element is compared with a signal representing the desired value and which operates in such a way as to reduce the deviation. The automatic controller generally does not include the sensitive element, i.e. that element which measures the value of the condition to be corrected, or the correcting element, i.e. that element which adjusts the condition to be corrected |
electric | includes "electromechanical", "electrohydraulic" or "electropneumatic" |
In patent documents, the following abbreviations are often used:
NC | Numerical Controller |
PLC | Programmable Logic Controller |
This place covers:
Structural elements used to compare the actual with the desired value of a variable that needs to be controlled in a control or regulation system.
The actual measurement of a signal should be classified in the appropriate class of G01.
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
actual value | the measured or estimated value of the variable to be controlled |
reference | the desired value of the variable being controlled |
error | the difference between the actual value of a variable and the reference |
This place covers:
Arrangements in a control or regulation system to avoid a "hunting" effect.
The "hunting" effect appears when a lag between the actual value and the reference of a variable to be controlled leads to overcompensation of the error and/or unstable behaviour of the system being controlled.
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
overswing, overshoot | situation in which the error between the actual and desired values of a variable is overcompensated |
damping | technique used to reduce or eliminate the overcompensation of an error |
This place covers:
Internal feed-back arrangements for obtaining particular characteristics, e.g. proportional, integral, differential
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Automatic controllers |
This place covers:
Systems with several controller modes or phases, in which the problem is related to switching between controller modes without provoking unnecessary oscillations or instability in the response of the system.
One of these modes or phases could be the absence of control, and then the problem would be related to obtaining a smooth response of the system during a starting transition.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Smooth engagement of gears in automatic transmission systems |
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
switchover | change from a first control mode to a second control mode |
This place covers:
Arrangements to assure the correct working of a control system in case of failure, for example, redundant control systems.
Arrangements to prevent damage to personnel or to equipment as a result of the control action.
Group G05B 9/00 covers the safety aspects of the control of a system, not of the system as such. This means that aspects related to the safe use of a product or device should be classified in the corresponding application places, unless it involves decisions related to the control of the process, product or device, in which case this group would be the appropriate one.
This place does not cover:
Arrangements for obtaining smooth engagement or disengagement of automatic control | |
Safety arrangements in programme-control systems |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Anti-hunting arrangements | |
Safety arrangements in programme-control systems other than numerical control | |
Safety arrangements in programme-control systems using programmable logic controllers (PLC) | |
Monitoring of control system, i.e. detection of failures in the control action and response to those failures | |
Safety for robotic manipulators | |
Safety valves | |
Safety devices acting in conjunction with the control or operation of a machine | |
Light barriers for detection of intrusion of a machine in a safety zone | |
Emergency protective circuit arrangements in general |
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
intrinsic safety | safe operation of control in explosive or hazardous environments |
This place covers:
Non-adaptive automatic controllers, i.e., the controller does not adjust itself as a result of the system response to its control action.
This place does not cover:
adaptive control systems |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Programme-control systems |
This place covers:
Adaptive automatic controllers, i.e. where the controller adjusts itself as a result of the system response to its control action, in order to obtain an optimum performance according to some criterion.
This place does not cover:
Programme-control systems |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Creation of a mathematical model of the system to be controlled | |
Neural networks | |
Neural networks using fuzzy logics | |
Expert systems | |
Fuzzy inferencing | |
Fuzzy logics | |
Machine learning |
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
knowledge base | a set of representations of facts about the system to be controlled and its environment |
knowledge-based agent | a software module that uses a knowledge base to implement control decisions |
expert system | a type of intelligent control system which can emulate the reasoning procedures of a human expert in order to generate the necessary control action |
learning system | an automatic control in which the nature of control parameters and algorithms is modified by the actual experience of the system |
This subgroup should be used when the key concept stresses or deals with the adaptive part of the control, whereas G05B 17/00 should be used when the emphasis is on the control model.
This place covers:
Systems controlled by a computer not provided by other classes.
Control of whole Building Automation Systems as e.g. domotics.
This place does not cover:
If the control relates to a specific application, then it should be classified in the proper application or control classes
Automatic controllers with particular characteristics | |
Adaptive control systems, i.e. systems automatically adjusting themselves to have a performance which is optimum according to some preassigned | |
Programme-control systems |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Control of air-conditioning and HVACs | |
Electric digital data processing | |
Computing arrangements based on specific computational models | |
Home automation networks | |
Control of lighting |
This place covers:
Use of a model or simulator to control a system.
Use of detailed representations of real systems to facilitate control of a system.
Creation and adaptation of the mathematical model used to control a system.
This place does not cover:
Adaptive control systems, i.e. systems automatically adjusting themselves to have a performance which is optimum according to some preassigned criterion | |
Systems controlled by a computer | |
Programme-control systems |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Analogue computers for specific processes, systems or devices, e.g. simulators |
Documents to be classified in G05B 17/00 should be those in which the model of the controlled system is the key concept. For example, creating or adapting the model, and not the control of a system to be controlled, Hardware/Software-in-Loop systems, e.g. connection of a controller to a computer that simulates a machine such as a car, manufacturing machine. G05B 13/04 should be used when the key concept stresses or deals with the adaptive part of the control.
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
first-principles knowledge | a fundamental understanding of the process or system to be controlled, expressed in the form of a mathematical model |
This place covers:
Programme control in sequence or logic controllers, e.g. simulating logic interconnections of signals according to ladder diagrams or function charts.
Programme control in controllers using digital processors, or using logic state machines, or using cams, discs, rods, drums, or where the programme is defined in the fixed connection of electrical elements, e.g. potentiometers, counters, transistors, or using plugboards, cross-bar distributors, matrix switches, or using selector switches or using record carriers.
Numerical control (NC), i.e. automatically operating machines, in particular machine tools, e.g. in a manufacturing environment, so as to execute positioning, movement or co-ordinated operations by means of programme data in numerical form
Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control (DNC), flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), integrated manufacturing systems (IMS), computer integrated manufacturing (CIM)
Recording and playback systems, i.e. in which the programme is recorded from a cycle of operations, e.g. the cycle of operations being manually controlled, after which this record is played back on the same machine
Examples of places where the subject matter of this place is covered when specially adapted, used for a particular purpose, or incorporated in a larger system:
Automatic control of the different phases of cleaning in washing or rinsing machines for crockery or table-ware | |
Programmed medicine dispensers | |
Disinfection or sterilising | |
Heart pace-makers | |
Steering-mechanisms for toy vehicles | |
Centrifuges | |
Thickness of work produced by metal-rolling mills | |
Bending metal rods, profiles or tubes | |
Boring or drilling machines | |
Electrical discharge or electrochemical machining | |
Assembling of parts to compose units | |
Series of individual steps in grinding a workpiece | |
Manipulators | |
Presses | |
Sequence of operations in printing machines or presses | |
Feeding sheets or webs in typewriters | |
Sequence of operations in apparatus or devices for manifolding, duplicating or printing for commercial purposes | |
Selecting text or image to be printed in addressing machines | |
Traction-motor speed of electrically-propelled vehicles | |
Piling articles | |
Crane drives | |
Dispensing, delivering or transferring liquids | |
Sewing machines | |
Embroidering machines | |
Operations in washing machines | |
Combustion engines | |
Supply of combustible mixture or its constituents to combustion engines | |
Fluid-pressure actuator systems | |
Combustion in combustion apparatus | |
Weighing apparatus | |
Electromechanical clocks or watches | |
Mechanically operating digital computers | |
Control units for electric digital data processing | |
Peripheral devices for electric digital data processing | |
Electrically operating digital computers | |
Electrically or magnetically operating analogue computers | |
Marking or sensing record carriers with digital information | |
Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices | |
Electric switches | |
Electron-beam or ion-beam tubes used for localised treatment of objects | |
Electronic switching or gating | |
Selecting arrangements in electric communication technique |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
The classification must be done using also the associated Indexing Code scheme.
Indexing Code orthogonal classification:
In addition to one or more symbols relating to the invention information, where appropriate, one or more Indexing Code symbols relating to orthogonal classification, i.e. covering aspects which are spanning over one or more groups, should be allocated. Classification in these indexing groups is optional but advisable.
G05B 2219/00 Program-control systems
relates to problems specific to groups from G05B 19/04 till G05B 19/42
G05B 2219/10 . Plc systems
relates to problems specific to programmable logic controllers only (G05B 19/05)
G05B 2219/11 . . Plc I-O input output
G05B 2219/12 . . Plc mp multi processor system
G05B 2219/13 . . Plc programming
G05B 2219/14 . . Plc safety
G05B 2219/15 . . Plc structure of the system
G05B 2219/16 . . Plc to applications
G05B 2219/20 . Pc systems
relates to problems specific to microprocessor-based controllers (except PLC), i.e. specific to groups from G05B 19/04 till G05B 19/16 (except G05B 19/05)
G05B 2219/11 . . Pc I-O input output
G05B 2219/12 . . Pc mp multi processor system
G05B 2219/13 . . Pc programming
G05B 2219/14 . . Pc safety
G05B 2219/15 . . Pc structure of the system
G05B 2219/16 . . Pc to applications
G05B 2219/30 . Nc systems
relates to problems specific to Numerical Control of machines (G05B 19/18 till G05B 19/42)
G05B 2219/31 . . Computer integrated manufacturing (G05B 19/418)
G05B 2219/33 . . NC Controller
G05B 2219/35 . . Input / Output
G05B 2219/37 . . Measuring problems
G05B 2219/39 . . Numerical Control of manipulators
G05B 2219/41 . . Servo-Controller
G05B 2219/43 . . Control of Speed in NC systems
G05B 2219/45 . . Special applications
This place does not cover:
Total factory control, i.e. centrally controlling a plurality of machines, e.g. direct or distributed numerical control [DNC], flexible manufacturing systems [FMS], integrated manufacturing systems [IMS], computer integrated manufacturing [CIM] |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Numerical control |
Examples of places in relation to which this place is residual:
Programme control using cams, discs, rods, drums or the like | |
Programme control where the programme is defined in the fixed connection of electrical elements, e.g. potentiometers, counters, transistors | |
Programme control using plugboards, cross-bar distributors, matrix switches or the like | |
Programme control using selector switches | |
Programme control using record carriers | |
Programme control using punched cards or tapes | |
Programme control using magnetic record carriers | |
Arrangements for machine tools, e.g. for copying or controlling |
This place does not cover:
Programmable logic controllers, e.g. simulating logic interconnections of signals according to ladder diagrams or function charts |
Examples of places where the subject matter of this place is covered when specially adapted, used for a particular purpose, or incorporated in a larger system:
Arrangements for program control |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Mechanical programme-control apparatus |
This place does not cover:
Numerical control characterised by part programming, e.g. entry of geometrical information as taken from a technical drawing, combining this with machining and material information to obtain control information, named part programme, for the NC machine |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Computer-aided design [CAD] in general |
This place covers:
Decision on the rate of sampling of the variable to be controlled.
Accurate sampling of the variable to be controlled by, for example, adding a timestamp to the signal.
This place does not cover:
Adaptive control systems, i.e. systems automatically adjusting themselves to have a performance which is optimum according to some preassigned criterion | |
Systems controlled by a computer | |
Systems involving the use of models or simulators of said systems | |
Programme-control systems |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Transmission systems for measured values | |
Electronic switching or gating |
This place covers:
Detection of faults in the control of a process or device. A fault is a departure from an acceptable range of an observed variable or a calculated parameter associated with a process. Process fault detection comprises three main steps:
A. Configuration of a monitoring or supervisory system, when this system is used to monitor or test the control of a system.
B. Detection of an existing (usually called "diagnostics") or incipient (usually called "prognostics") fault in the control of a system.
C. Reaction to the detection of an existing or incipient fault in the control of a system.
Group G05B 23/00 covers the monitoring (or testing) of the control of a system, not of the system as such. This means that testing the quality of a process, product or device should be classified in the corresponding application places, unless it involves decisions related to the control or monitoring of the process, product or device, in which case G05B 23/00 should be attributed.
This place does not cover:
Monitoring of programme-control systems |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Adaptation of model in model-based fault detection systems | |
Monitoring tool breakage, life or condition, including wear of a machine tool | |
Data acquisition during manufacturing | |
Control of the quality of the end product in a manufacturing process | |
Systems involving sampling of the variable controlled | |
Process diagnostics in road vehicle drive control systems | |
Safety or indicating devices for abnormal conditions | |
Testing vehicle engines | |
Testing of electronic circuits | |
Testing dynamo-electric machines | |
Generation of clock signal, power supply for computers (including related diagnostics and monitoring aspects) | |
Detecting defective computer hardware, usually applied to computers used in an office, non-industrial environment | |
Error detection concerning software (i.e. debugging) usually applied to computers used in an office, non-industrial environment | |
Image analysis for industrial inspection or for determining position or orientation of objects | |
Registering or indicating the condition of working machines or other apparatus, i.e. testing whether the machine is in good condition | |
Error checking in memories | |
Fault management of packet-switched data network or network elements | |
Monitoring/testing of packet-switched data network or network elements | |
Protocols for real-time services in data packet switching networks | |
Network protocols for data switching network services |
Further classification is made in the indexing codes G05B 2223/00 whenever appropriate.
When classifying a document in group G05B 23/00, each of the branches G05B 23/0208, G05B 23/0218, and G05B 23/0259 should be considered for classification.
Each of the above-mentioned steps A-C should be considered for classification.
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
based on process history | in this method, only the availability of large amount of historical process data is assumed, i.e. no fundamental understanding of the process is assumed. |
diagnostics | this term can be ambiguous, as sometimes it will mean detection of a failure, and sometimes it will mean detection of cause or root of failure |
fault detection | detection of both existing and incipient failures |
fault isolation | estimation of cause or root of failure |
model-based | a fundamental understanding of the process using first-principles knowledge, that is, an explicit or implicit relationship between the observations (symptoms) of a process and the faults. |
prognostics | detection of an incipient failure |
qualitative | rule based decisions; if-then relations between variables |
quantitative | only mathematical relationships between the variables used in the fault detection and isolation |
In patent documents, the following abbreviations are often used:
PCA | Principal Component Analysis |
PLS | Partial Least Square |
abnormal, failure, malfunction | fault |
This place covers:
Problems that deal with the configuration of a fault detection system previous to its application for detecting faults.
This place does not cover:
An important exception in this sub-group is the generation of a model of a system. As such a model is important for both control and monitoring, this kind of documents should be classified in G05B 17/02 (for general controls) or in G05B 13/04 (in case of adaptive controls).
This place covers:
Preprocessing and preparation of observation values so that they may be used in the fault detection process.
Model based fault detection.
Process history based fault detection.
Injection of test monitoring signals and analysis of the control response.
This is the main problem dealt with in group G05B 23/00.
In case of doubt, i.e. a document so general that it does not give much detail about any problem, and if we are confident that the document belongs to G05B 23/00, then at least one class of this subgroup should be assigned to the document, preferably G05B 23/0224 or G05B 23/0243, as deciding whether the document deals with fault detection using a model of the system being monitored or process history of that system should be obvious.
This place covers:
Confirmation of fault detection
Control of logging system used to store observation and/or fault values.
Communication of fault detection results to operators.
Fault Isolation and Identification.
Predictive Maintenance. This means monitoring the control of a system and, based on the results of this monitoring, adapting the maintenance schedule of the monitored process or device.
Modifications of the monitored process or device to prevent an incipient fault or to reduce the severity of an occurring fault.
Modifications of the monitoring system as a result of the fault detection.
Examples of places where the subject matter of this place is covered when specially adapted, used for a particular purpose, or incorporated in a larger system:
Repair maintenance, i.e. repairing a broken or failed process or system | A47L 15/00, B23B 39/08, B23B 39/24, B25J 9/16, B60W 50/00, F02D 27/02, F02D 41/22, G01M 15/00, G01R 31/00, G05B 19/406, G06F 11/00 |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Preventive maintenance, i.e. planning maintenance according to the available resources without monitoring the system |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Open loop control of positioning, e.g. using step motors |
This place covers:
Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass.